


Ring

by Toaster_Warlock



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Comfort/Angst, Cute, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mention of dead shaun, they are in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 01:31:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13284114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toaster_Warlock/pseuds/Toaster_Warlock
Summary: MacCready didn’t know what was up with Nate.





	Ring

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to my awesome beta! Thanks my friend.
> 
> This little thing was built off of me giving maccready The Ring(tm) in game. I just thought it would be cute.
> 
> My Beta's [Tumblr](http://maenji.tumblr.com) and their [ao3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeralddrop)
> 
> Hey guys, if you like my work I officially have a [twitter](https://twitter.com/Toaster_Writes?s=09) now where i will be posting the fics im working on. If any of you are interested (^ ^)

Nate had been drifting off a lot more than normal recently. He would sometimes sit for hours, just...staring off into the distance. At first it was just plain annoying. He didn’t march all over the commonwealth with this guy just to have him...give up. Lose interest in making caps or just talking. God, Nate would talk for hours on end, about absolutely nothing. And then there _was_ almost nothing. There were tons of nights keeping watch where Nate would mumble “Shaun” over and over again. Like he was in a bad dream with no escape. And honestly, MacCready understood, if Duncan died he wouldn’t know how to continue on either. But considering that hadn’t happened, and that sometimes MacCready could still see that spark of life in Nate. Well, he just doesn’t think he has any right to say anything.

Eventually though, something happened. MacCready wasn’t too sure what. Call it the grace of God or Atom, or whatever, but something changed. It came after he told Nate everyday how much he loved him, that spark returned. Like the world was once more Nate’s oyster and nothing could keep him from cherishing the pearl inside. MacCready sometimes wonders if that pearl is him, but then he thinks that’s just being cocky and lets it go. He didn’t see too much of the mindless Nate eventually. After peaceful nights spent together in each others arms. After they finally finished a place where both of them were comfortable enough to stay for a long period of time. There were still nights where Nate would be restless for hours, checking schematics he’d looked at over a thousand times just because he was afraid of the demons that plagued his dreams. Those nights neither man got much sleep. MacCready would always, without fail, get up after Nate and sit on the small steps to their shack. They would be wrapped in the silence of night before Nate eventually just cried. It wasn’t loud, and not something anyone would even really hear. Just silent tears falling on a screen. And all MacCready could do was rest his head on Nate’s shoulder and hope Nate would wear himself out so MacCready could drag him to bed.

They had talked once, one night when Nate was crying. 

***

It was only a few days after Nate had returned from an impromptu trip to the Institute, which seemed to be the cause of all this in the first place. He never asked, tending to keep out of any official Institute business until Nate came back down from the sky and told him they needed to go kill someone. That was a story for a different time though. MacCready had gotten up as usual, wandering outside to Nate already crying. He sat down next to him, just the two of them in the dark of night, lit only by nearby lights of a settlement. Nate was holding a small red rocketship, something MacCready had seen countless times while him and Nate were on the hunt for his son. Come to think of it MacCready had yet to actually meet the man, aside from that one time they were stuck in the rain on that roof. He cleared his head of those thoughts and refocused on Nate. MacCready carefully placed a hand over Nate’s but still said nothing. If Nate wanted to talk, he'd initiate the conversation. Until then, MacCready could be the shoulder Nate leans on. They both sat there for a long time, neither moving or speaking, just breathing in an almost tense silence, as settlers rest peacefully. 

Nate, at some point, shifted, a change for how he would normally just sit and stare. He moved into MacCready’s space, turning his body towards MacCready and resting his head on MacCready’s shoulder. MacCready wrapped Nate with his arms. One going across his waist, another threading through his hair and scratching lightly. There was another bout of silence as both sat and felt a breeze glide over them. 

MacCready remembers vividly what Nate told him that night.

Nate had taken a deep breath before he let it sigh through his lips. MacCready wasn’t expecting to hear anything after that, and why should he? Nate hadn’t said anything during these nights. But tonight he did.

“He’s dead,” Nate had whispered. “Shaun’s dead.”

Then he had let out the only sob MacCready had ever, and would ever, hear from the man. MacCready was stunned into silence, though his subconscious seemed to be aware enough to let out a small curse, and place his forehead against Nate’s head. He never would have thought this was the reason behind these nights. There wasn’t anything MacCready could say in this situation, nothing Nate would have wanted to hear either. After all the work Nate had gone through finding his son, and the world took Shaun from him, quicker than the two could even really get to know each other. It was cruel, too cruel. No one deserved this. And in MacCready’s mind, especially Nate. They didn’t speak, move, or sleep that night. And Nate never spoke again during nights where the thoughts of his son kept him up. MacCready didn’t see a reason for him to need to either. All that needed to be said was.

***

This was all a long time ago though. Nate hadn’t had a night like that in months. Sure, he was restless, but that’s the nature of everyone. He wasn’t silent anymore, hadn’t cried to himself late at night when no one but MacCready knew. He was just Nate.

Which is why MacCready was worried when he had walked up the steps of their shack one night. Nate was sitting in his chair, the one right across from the one MacCready had deemed his after he and Nate had finished furnishing the place a year or so ago. He was silent, dead silent. Staring off like he used to all those months ago. He was fidgeting with his ring finger, stroking his wife’s ring while off far away. MacCready had long since gotten over the small bubble of sadness and jealousy that came whenever he saw it. He knew now that till the day Nate died, he would love his wife, just like MacCready would always love Lucy. It was just simple facts that MacCready had gotten used to over time.

He watched as Nate didn’t look up. He hadn’t noticed MacCready at all, who had sighed under his breath. He leans up against the doorway to their shack and turns on his best “southern charm”.

“Hey there cowboy. You come here often?” Nate had startled, a good sign in MacCready’s eyes, and turned to look at him. The man just smiled when MacCready tipped his green hat.

“Well, reckon I do. See there is the prettiest farmhand that lives in this house.” Nate had stood and walked over to MacCready while he was talking. He had wrapped his arms around MacCready’s waist, who in return wrapped his around Nate’s neck. “And I’ve come to see if he has time for little ol’ me.” MacCready had laughed and placed a short kiss on Nate’s lips.

“I reckon he does.” Nate had smiled, the core of it reaching deep into his eyes, making it warm. He had kissed MacCready deeply after that, and shut the door to their home. MacCready didn’t realize that earlier, Nate wasn’t so much rubbing the ring which seemed to be surgically attached to his hand, but rather, the small tan line where the ring used to be.

***

Only a few months later had that day come back to MacCready’s thoughts, and for good reason. Nate had been strangely fidgety all day. He couldn’t sit still and would keep bouncing his damn leg. MacCready was just about tired with this shtuff. For what seemed like the millionth time that lazy day, MacCready slapped his hand down on Nate’s leg.

“Nate, seriously, what’s up?” MacCready had asked earlier in the day and Nate had just shrugged it off with a “nothing, sorry” but picked right back up within the hour. MacCready was tired of it. Well he was mostly just tired of the repeated tapping of Nate’s boot striking the ground. Nate looked like he was about to just bull another response but MacCready had glared at him which got the other to sigh.

“Fine, fine.” Nate tapped his finger against his leg, like he was trying to figure something out. MacCready let him have his time, just hoping Nate wouldn’t slip off into another part of this dimension.

Eventually Nate moved. He dug around in one of his many pockets and pulled something out of it. MacCready hadn’t seen what it was, but he wasn’t about to ruin whatever Nate was doing. Nate reaches out with one hand and grab MacCready’s. He places his other fist on MacCready’s palm and takes a deep breath.

“MacCready, I….I want you to have this.” he opens his fist one out plops a small gold band. MacCready stares at it as Nate continues. “You’re my everything MacCready. I know now the tradition of ring giving isn't exactly still in play but...it still means something to me.”

Holy shit, did this mean what MacCready thought it meant?

“Are you...do you,” MacCready gathered his thoughts, “Nate, I can’t take this, this is your wife’s. You should keep it as a memory.” Nate laughed a bit at that. It was a soft laugh, it was warm and accompanied by a smile just as comforting.

“Mac, this ring means love. It’s not just for one person. There will always be a part of me that loves...her. But now, this ring, is my love for you Robert Joseph MacCready.” MacCready stared in silence at Nate before a smile spread across his face. He didn’t cry, he’d long since forgotten how, but MacCready thinks if he could, he would have.

“Then I’ll wear it forever, you have my word Nathan.” MacCready slipped the ring on his finger and stood up, walking over to Nate. He sat down on top of the man, who held him close. MacCready interrupted the moment to lightly punch Nate in the shoulder.

“Never use my full name again. While romantic and cheesy, I hate that name.” Nate laughed.

“Alright Mac and Cheese.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys hope you enjoyed. I'm planning on making more fallout 4 works later, if you really liked this.
> 
> Also, don't forget to comment and leave a kudo.
> 
> Thanks!


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